Long Beach Grand Prix a rush for local businesses

Long Beach resident Michael Jones has lunch on the Patio of The Auld Dubliner Irish Pub and Restaurant. Due to its proximity to the Grand Prix race course, The Auld Dubliner has a reputation as being among the best places to watch the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Long Beach Calif., Thursday, March 27, 2014.
(Photo by Stephen Carr / Daily Breeze)

LONG BEACH >> For those in the restaurant and hospitality industries, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is a chance to see if the volume of business can match the roaring engine noise of high-performing Indy cars.

“(It’s) louder than anything else I’ve ever heard,” said David Copley, co-owner of the Auld Dubliner, of the gasoline-powered racket of the Grand Prix. “Everything almost vibrates when they go by.”

The Auld Dubliner, a pub at the Pike at Rainbow Harbor Development, is prime real estate during race weekend, located right on the race course. “They’re about 10 feet away from us and they’re just flying by,” he said, looking toward a short stretch of Pine Avenue where drivers will speed along before executing a hard right turn onto Seaside Way.

Grand Prix weekend is so busy for the Auld Dubliner that Copley said the pub more than doubles its front-end staffing from a typical weekend crew of four employees to 10 people. And the Auld Dubliner is certainly not the only Long Beach business where owners and managers are counting on a rush of customers during the Grand Prix events of April 11-13.

“It’s a great weekend. Great crowd. People spend more money than they usually would spend,” said Jimmy Loizides, owner of George’s Greek Cafe on Pine Avenue.

A formal economic impact study to estimate how much money the Long Beach Grand Prix attracts to the local economy has not been conducted in recent years. Prior estimates have been reported in the range of $30 million to $40 million for three days of activity.

The event is also a prime opportunity for deal-making among attendees whose race day activities mix entertainment with business negotiations. And it’s an annual showcase for the city as it is broadcast around the world.

“It’s hard to put a price tag on how that affects our image in a very positive way,” Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Randy Gordon said.

Advertisement

Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Steve Goodling agreed, saying, “The city looks great on television, and as a city we get to showcase all the development we’ve had downtown.”

Goodling also said he and others at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, who are tasked with attracting future events to the city, take advantage of Grand Prix weekend to invite prospects to the city and try to develop deals for future meetings and events in the city.

The spectacle and sounds of the race and downtown Long Beach are not the only selling points when meeting planners invite a prospective customer to the Grand Prix, Goodling said. The race demonstrates that city government and local tourist-serving businesses have the skills to handle major crowds.

“It’s kind of like, ‘We know the routine.’ And that is positive,” Goodling said.

At the same time the race brings thousands of fans to Long Beach, numerous residents head outside of the city to escape the hoopla. This means that some businesses that are already known to people who live and work in Long Beach have a chance to introduce themselves to visitors.

“We’ll see a lot of new people,” said Ed Levy, director of West Coast operations for Knitting Factory Entertainment, the company that owns the Federal Bar downtown.

The Federal Bar first opened for the weekend of the 2013 Grand Prix without promoting itself to give employees on-the-job training as they served customers who wandered in to the bar. The Federal Bar officially opened last May and is now counting on hosting a packed house for race weekend.

“I think we’re going to be quite busy. We’re already starting to get booked up,” Levy said of the restaurant.

Hotels are also booking up. Matt Kovac, director of sales and marketing for Hyatt Regency Long Beach, and Greg Keebler, general manager of Hilton Long Beach & Executive Meeting Center, said their respective hotels were nearly sold out. The Hyatt Regency, which is within the race circuit, has 538 rooms, and the Hilton Long Beach, on Ocean Boulevard, has 398 rooms.

“We hope it goes on for another 40 years,” Kovac said of the event, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The Hilton Long Beach is the official race hotel and is preparing to serve 7,000 to 8,000 meals over the weekend inside the event’s hospitality tent. It is also hosting an April 10 dinner in honor of champion racer Mario Andretti, a four-time Long Beach Grand Prix winner and the Grand Marshal of this year’s competition.

“It is an incredible event and it puts us on the world map, showcasing Long Beach,” Keebler said.